“That Sugar Film,” “Franco’s Promise” make IDFA line-up

Films on topics ranging from Australian sugar consumption to Guantánamo Bay are among 15 documentaries selected for the feature-length doc competition at the forthcoming IDFA festival. (Pictured: That Sugar Film)

Films on topics ranging from Australian sugar consumption to Guantánamo Bay are among 15 projects selected for the feature-length doc competition at the forthcoming International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA).

The 27th edition of the fall documentary event, which runs from November 19-30, consists of 298 titles, of which 81 will be world premieres.

Documentaries in the category include Oswald Richthofen’s 35 Cows and a Kalashnikov, a triptych focusing on warrior-farmers, colorful dandies and voodoo wrestlers in Ethiopia, Congo-Brazzaville and Congo-Kinshasa; Heddy Honigmann’s Around the World in 50 Concerts, in which the director tours with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; Ryan Mullins’ Chameleon, on the journalistic methods of Ghanaian investigative reporter Anas Aremeyaw Anas; and Camilla Nielsson’s Democrats, about Zimbabwe’s new constitution.

Other titles in the competition include Marcus Vetter’s The Forecaster, on economist Martin Armstrong; Marc Weymuller’s Franco’s Promise, about the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War; Laurent Bécue-Renard’s Of Men and War, on a group of American Iraq veterans with PTSS; and Agnieszka Zwiefka’s The Queen of Silence, on a young Roma girl living in Poland.

Additional documentaries include Krisda Tipchaimeta’s Somboon, about the loving relationship between two seniors; Hanna Polak’s Something Better to Come, on those living on the biggest refuse tip in Europe; Damon Gameau’s That Sugar Film (pictured above), in which the director consumes 40 teaspoons of sugar a day for 60 days; Morgan Knibbe’s Those Who Feel the Fire Burning, on refugees in Europe; Nima Sarvestani’s Those Who Said No, about the Iran war tribunal; Patricio Henriquez’s Uyghurs, Prisoners of the Absurd, on a group of Uyghurs who spent years in Guantánamo Bay; and finally Seung-Jun Yi’s Wind on the Moon, about a deaf and blind teenager.

About The Author

Daniele Alcinii is a news editor at realscreen, the leading international publisher of non-fiction film and television industry news and content. He joined the RS team in 2015 with experience in journalism following a stint out west with Sun Media in Edmonton's Capital Region, and with communications work in Melbourne, Australia and Toronto. You can follow him on Twitter at @danielealcinii.